Journals and Posts

I guess as we age we often look back instead of forward. Maybe that's why so many trip and fall. The moral is: always look forward when walking. ;)

This is a repeat of parts of the ROBIN FAMILY JOURNAL.

I still have many questions. I am curious to know what was the cause of great-grandmother, Jane Neilson Robin Gilkerson's, death was at such a young age and where she is buried. I know my grandfather was sent back to Glasgow, Scotland and was in a boarding school in Dollar, Scotland. Catherine his sister seems to have lived under her Uncle Walter's guardianship. Grandfather Robin seems to have returned to Kentucky as noted on a ships passage log. Also it seems that James Buchanan Gilkerson also made a few trips back to Scotland for business or to visit family.

My grandfather William Robin Jr.'s mother was Jane Neilson (1851-1885) daughter of John Neilson founder of Oakbank Iron Works Glasgow the elder brother of the famous inventor of the hot blast furnace and Gas Works manager-owner James Beaumont Neilson (1792-1865). Jane Neilson Robin was widowed in 1874 and then later in 1883 married an American from Kentucky, James Buchanan Gilkerson. Jane and her new husband, my grandfather and his older sister, Catherine traveled the long, exciting trip by steamship, train and horse and carriage to Crab Orchard Springs, Kentucky.

Where was Jane Neilson ROBIN Gilkerson buried? Was she buried in Crab Orchard Springs, Kentucky? What was the cause of her death? So mant questions. Possibly I need to go to Kentucky and review the records that are held at the local library or city hall. Most records before 1900 I am told need to be researched on the local level in Kentucky.